It is a pretty simple question but I don't find myself asking it enough. I would love to hear where you all think you can improve your work (whether it be an aspect of your images or something business related). How can you better yourself as a photographer and what are you doing to make it happen?

I need to work on my communication & organizational skills, which I learned is such a big part of running your own business.

communication: small things like keeping in contact with my couples before & after engagement sessions and the wedding day, leading discussion during consults, leaving voicemails if needed, just remembering names (i'm horrible with names). I am working on this by setting up things like a FAQ that i review with clients at the end of consults & just have a better understanding of the flow of conversation during consults & trying to engage the clients more so it's about them. I am also getting organized (my next thing) to contact clients ahead of dates; engagement sessions & weddings.

organization: just a filing system & getting organized with Quickbooks. It's amazing how simply a calendar on my iPad that shows ALL months for the year helped me feel more organized where I can mark dates/events. I am also fixing up my study room in my house to be an office area where I can keep all things 'business' where i need it.

I think I could do a better job at being 'on' all the time in the sense of always being ready to catch something. I'm sure there are plenty of great photos I'm not seeing because I'm not looking hard enough. Particularly at the reception, at this point in the day I'm sort of mentally exhausted already and I feel like I get a little lazy.

I always struggle with creativity and letting go of my own expectations. I also tend to go off track with reception lighting... it's a blessing and a curse. If something isn't working, I just improvise. I need to be able to identify why it's not working and correct it.

- Get better at shooting with conservative settings and be ready to "bail out" to a conservative setting to cover something unexpected. (like something far away from anything to bounce off and/or too far from my OCF)

- I am the opposite of ckhagen, I need to get out of my engineer mentality and just roll with bad lighting at times instead of always trying to "fix" it. Some of the most dynamic images on here are taken in environments I would try to "fix" or avoid.

thethinkcouch wrote:
shoot for free for other photog friends. don't shoot what you're suppose to shoot.

//ed

That would be a really fun idea. I would love to 3rd shoot for someone at a wedding. I would make it my goal to spend the entire time either not shooting the "main event" whether its dancing/ceremony/walking down the isle/etc and look for details somewhere else.

Are we talking about improving photography or improving business? If it's improving photography, there's a lot of different physical things that can be done in order to improve the images. I'm getting hounded on this in my internship thingie right now. My answer for changing technique is to change angles, composition, poses, direction, visualization of shots, using environment, and using light differently. Really, all it comes down to is taking risks when taking photos. It's a creative outlet so creativity is the main focus.

I also have a few personal projects, nothing to do with what I shoot day-to-day. Something totally different. Also getting a few photographers to shoot me, just to learn what its like from the other side of the camera.

Good luck, it's way more work than I thought it would be 2 years ago, still a gazillion things to learn, inspired everyday by others on here. Keep positive, surround yourself with other positive peeps, keep humble.

There's several different ways really. You can learn from the work of others (despite Todd's admonition of begetting sameness). Remember, for centuries, that's what apprentices did: learn, practice, master it - and then develop that skill to make it their own. You learn from seeing something somewhere in real life that gives you an idea for something. It doesn't have to be another photographer. It could be a shadow you saw. You learn by getting your hands messy. You learn by ignoring everyone who says that's not the way it's done. You learn when you made a "happy" mistake. You learn when you say, "what if?" and "why not?" And then practice. And more practice. And make it perfect practice.